The price of a 30-day adult regional transit pass in San Diego County went up on the first of the month, from $72 to $85. The change took effect October 1, 2026, and it is the first of two scheduled steps, with the same pass set to reach $95 a year later. The reduced-fare pass moved too, and a new low-income program launched the same day that holds one group of riders at the old adult price.
The $72 to $85 adult monthly pass on MTS and NCTD
The SANDAG Transportation Committee approved the increase on July 17, 2026, and the agency’s news release lists the first-step figures plainly: the adult monthly pass on both the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and North County Transit District (NCTD) goes from $72 to $85, effective October 1, 2026. The same release describes the approval as the first significant fare increase since 2009, and says the rollout is spread over two years to “lessen the initial impact on transit riders.”
The price is now live on the operator’s own schedule. The MTS fare chart lists the regional adult month pass at $85, and SANDAG’s transit fare structure page shows the adult pass as $72 through September 30, 2026, then $85 from October 1, 2026, then $95 from October 1, 2027. Those figures all describe the adult monthly pass. A single bus or trolley ride is a separate fare; the MTS fares page still shows an adult one-way fare of $3.00 and a reduced-fare one-way of $1.50, and the SANDAG release does not restate either.
For a rider who buys one pass every month, the first step adds $13 a month, or $156 over a twelve-month stretch at the new price. The second step adds another $10 a month from October 2027. That arithmetic is the article’s own, built from the two published prices, and not a figure the agencies state.
Senior, disabled and Medicare riders pay $28, up from $23
The reduced-fare households face a smaller dollar increase but a larger percentage one. According to the SANDAG fare page, the monthly pass for senior, disabled and Medicare (SDM) riders was $23 through September 30 and is $28 from October 1, 2026, with a second step to $30 on October 1, 2027. The MTS fare chart lists the regional reduced-fare month pass at $28 in its standard version…